Chapter 51.1
Editor: Jodi
In the first quarter of the New Year on the Gregorian calendar, Jiang City’s business circles were buzzing with activity.
The stir began when Sheng Ling, the heir of the Sheng family, personally booted her husband, Qiao Chengan, out of power and handed over the evidence she had against him to the police, making him the prime suspect in a major financial investigation.
And as if that wasn’t enough, news of Qiao Chengan’s infidelity during their marriage also went public, and Sheng Ling wasted no time filing for divorce with a no-nonsense attitude.
Twenty years of what seemed like a “loving marriage” had come to an end.
Sheng Ling’s actions reminded people of the events with the Tang family last year, and many young women from wealthy families learned a hard lesson from these two incidents: marrying an unreliable man can ruin your life. It’s better to just stay beautiful on your own.
Meanwhile, some narrow-minded men secretly cursed at Sheng Ling and Zheng Qiuyi, complaining that these women made a fuss about everything and that divorcing at their age was nothing but a disgrace to the elite families.
However as far as Sheng Ling was concerned, love was nothing but a joke. She cut ties with that worthless man immediately, rediscovered her former self, and made a stormy comeback in the business world.
Her shrewd maneuvers left some people in awe of her skill, so even if felt differently in their hearts, they still couldn’t help but praise her as a formidable woman.
Even Qiao Yuan was stunned by Sheng Ling’s actions, quickly shifting his admiration from Qiao Chengan to his own mother.
The gentle and virtuous image he’d had of his mother gradually faded, replaced by this imposing “President Sheng” who stood before him now.
As for Qiao Chengan, he was being investigated for alleged economic crimes. His days of ease seemed numbered.
When Fu Shen heard the news, he barely had time to spare a thought. He was busy applying for his game’s distribution license.
After getting the license, he’d still need to go through closed beta, internal testing, and public testing, with no room for mistakes at any stage, leaving him no time to care about Qiao Chengan’s affairs.
Besides that, he was also desperately earning credits in school, trying to graduate early.
This made his friends, Pi Xiu and the rest get inspired by his hard work, causing them to start putting more effort into their own studies and skills as well.
Of course, no matter how busy he was, Fu Shen would never neglect Tang Zhou.
Since they’d “broken their fast” on New Year’s Day, they couldn’t seem to get enough of each other, sneaking in time for indulgent nights together whenever they could.
Love made everything brighter, and Tang Zhou’s personality visibly changed after dating Fu Shen. Once a proud and reserved man who rarely spoke, he now often smiled and even cracked jokes.
Even Lu Ye couldn’t help but call it “magical”.
*
Hua Yue was thriving, and Tang Zhou’s responsibilities were piling up, which meant his net worth was also climbing.
When he broke away from the Tang family the year before, plenty of people mocked him, however they were all silent now, turning around to criticize the Tang family for discarding a pearl for a fish eye. After all, Tang Tianyang hadn’t achieved much of anything, what’s more the Tang Group’s performance had been declining steadily.
Tang Tianyang wasn’t blind to these rumors, and they even caused him to burn with anger.
His engagement to Du Ruoyu was postponed last year due to Tang Zhen’s divorce, and then for some reason, the engagement kept getting delayed, and even up until now a date still hadn’t been finalized for it.
It seemed that Old Master Du had some reservations.
However if this engagement mess was the only thing going wrong, then Tang Tianyang might have managed. What really gnawed at him was his gambling-addict father.
After Longxin went bankrupt, he had been forced to sell off assets to send money to his father, who had promised to go abroad and never return. Yet, he’d blown all the money on gambling, only to come back and beg for more from him and his mother.
And he, already held back by the higher-ups in the Tang Group, didn’t have much money to spare. And once he started handing it over, he knew it would never stop.
What’s more Old Master Tang had recently started limiting Tang Zhen’s spending, which meant he not only had to support himself but also cover the needs of three others—a challenge he could hardly handle.
Tang Zhen, known for his lavish spending, became a laughingstock after his failures in both business and marriage, however he still wandered around aimlessly never thinking twice about money.
Whilst his mother, spoiled by Tang Zhen’s support over the years, had now acquired a taste for luxury. And so with Tang Zhen now broke, she’d turned to her son.
And his biological father still expected gambling money.
Tang Tianyang felt as though he had three massive mountains crushing him, making it hard to even breathe.
He now couldn’t even remember why he’d taken over the Tang Group in the first place. Was it just to be a cash machine or to be a money-making puppet for those stubborn old men?
He became more and more resentful, his frustration spilling over into hatred toward Tang Zhou, as he believed that he had deliberately dumped this mess on him.
And with this twisted mindset, the Tang Group’s decline only accelerated, leaving its ranks restless.
And seeing the chaos in the Tang family and realizing that he had no control, Tang Tianyang began transferring assets overseas quietly, hoping to escape before Old Master Tang noticed.
After all, the Tang family was a sinking ship. Why should he stay and suffer when he could live it up abroad with the money?
Corruption within the group deepened, with Tang Tianyang using huge bribes to convince people to cook the books and hide things from Tang Zhihua and the board.
However what he didn’t know, was that everything he did was being reported to Tang Zhou secretly.
Tang Zhou had planted a spy next to Tang Tianyang, who only reported Tang Tianyang’s actions without prying into the Tang Group’s commercial secrets.
So soon after Tang Tianyang and his partners began transferring assets, the financial investigation team received a report and was back on the Tang Group’s trail.
**
On the other end, Tang Zhihua, who was watering his plants in a leisurely manner suddenly paused.
He sighed to Uncle Fang, “Why has Ah Zhou changed so suddenly? He didn’t even come home for New Year. Do you think he’ll stop acknowledging me this old man someday?”
Uncle Fang, helpless, could only sympathize, thinking Tang Zhou might have been wronged, however his behavior was still a bit cold.
“Maybe he’s just busy with work.”
“I think he’s busy with that boyfriend of his!” Tang Zhihua huffed, putting his watering can down. “Just look at him with that guy—what kind of behavior is that!”
However before he could say more, the phone rang.
Tang Zhihua waved for Uncle Fang to answer it.
A moment later, Uncle Fang rushed over, a shocked expression on his face. “Chairman, Young Master Tianyang……”
Tang Zhihua sensed something was wrong. “What happened to him?”
“He was taken in by the financial investigation team for questioning.”
“Again with the financial investigation team!”
Hearing those words made Tang Zhihua immediately think of Tang Zhen’s troubles, and his heart sank.
“Quick, find out what’s going on.”
Soon, word came back—it seemed Tang Tianyang had been reported for embezzling company assets.
Tang Zhihua: “…”
He didn’t have any idea how to even react to this.
At this very moment, he felt for the first time that the Tang family might really be on the brink of collapse.
However Tang Zhihua had weathered countless storms, so he managed to pull himself together, took a deep breath, then said calmly: “Wait for the results.”
With Tang Zhen’s actions fresh in his mind, he had already prepared himself for the worst—after all, Tang Tianyang had been raised under Tang Zhen’s guidance.
The waiting was excruciating. Tang Zhihua couldn’t help but reflect on everything that had happened this past year, and an overwhelming sadness washed over him.
His children and grandchildren were either disappointments or interested in men. Could the Tang family legacy even be preserved at this rate?
He suddenly remembered something Tang Zhou had once said to him.
—“If you trust me, I can secure the Tang family’s future for at least fifty years.”
However he was now afraid that the Tang family might not last even five years.
Had he really made a mistake?
**
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